One of the hardest fights you’ll encounter in the entirety of God of War 3 is the Zeus bossfight, especially if you’re playing on the chaos difficulty. If you let the battle get out of control, there’ll be multiple Zeus clones coming at you from all angles, and you won’t know who’s firing from where.
We’ve put together a few simple tips on the best way to beat him. Read on to learn how to beat Zeus in God of War 3.
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GoW 3 Zeus boss fight – Part 1
For many, the fight with Zeus at the end of GoW 3 is one of the most difficult in the whole game, but it is also one of the most satisfying and rewarding.
At the start of the fight, after Zeus tosses Pandora to one side, he will charge at you. The best way to counter this move is by rotating the analog stick to deter the impact of the attack. From thereon in, the fight moves to a sidescroller point of view a la Tekken. A number of attacks will come at you, and here are some tried and tested tips to get you through the fight.
- Tip 1 – Golden Fleece Counter
When Zeus attacks you with his most common three-part move, you’ll need to know how to counter it in order to avoid mass damage. The best way to do this is with the golden fleece, which you will have to time correctly in order to have any chance of escaping damage. You’ll have to use this on either of Zeus’ first two moves for it to be successful otherwise, get yourself out of there quickly or you’ll be toast when the third thunderous attack comes at you.
- Tip 2 – Learn Zeus’ Attacks
Zeus has a number of other attacks that you’ll have to be mindful of throughout the fight. One of his most annoying counters is a teleport counter attack which transports you away from him after you attack. When this happens, look out for Zeus’ three punch move that usually comes straight after, double jump over Zeus, and attack him from behind for some devastating counter blows.
Zeus may also try to attack you with a diagonal lightning bolt, simply run under the bolt attack to avoid any damage. If you get a chance, attack him swiftly as well.
A final attack to keep your eye out for is Zeus’ rise and slam, a move which can hurt you for a fair amount of damage and is quite hard to dodge. A common way to deal with this is to activate the Army of Sparta ability, becoming invincible and allowing you to hit Zeus back with attacks of your own. Learn your most powerful attacks before the fight and deal them to Zeus whilst you have invincibility.
- Tip 3 – Nemesis Whip
The Nemesis Whip will help you out a lot in this fight, as it is one way in which you can both attack and defend at the same time. To do the attack you will need to first press L1 + Triangle, to initiate the launch, and then L1 + Square for the following punch to the ground.
Make sure you don’t waste all of your magic prior to fighting Zeus.
- Tip 4 – Stay Close
As a final tip, stay close to Zeus during the fight and keep him busy. With the gauntlet equipped as your primary weapon, you should have no problem defeating Zeus. It isn’t the easiest fight if you are unprepared, but once you learn the patterns of Zeus’ attacks, you can deal precise and damaging counters and quickly run down his health.
Zeus Boss Fight – Part 2
This part of the fight is the shortest, but there are still some new attacks from Zeus that you’ll have to learn. Using the Blade of Olympus can drastically reduce the duration of this fight, and you’ll also want to make good use of the Army of Sparta to become immune during the oncoming attacks.
Make good use of counters and grind down Zeus until a cutscene involving Gaia signals the end of part two of the fight.
Zeus Boss Fight – Part 3
When the second part of the fight is over, a short cutscene will follow. After this, you’ll have to follow the path down to Gaia’s Heart, attacking it repeatedly until you confront Zeus again, leading to the second part of the fight.
This part of the fight is where a lot of people get stuck, as Zeus can spawn multiple clones that attack you constantly with reckless abandon. You can parry the clones to gain some magic orbs, allowing you to use your abilities more freely.
- Tip 1 – Use Army of Sparta
Zeus will come at you with some new attacks in part 3 of the fight, and they are all fairly difficult to avoid. We recommend using the Army of Sparta liberally here to avoid taking too much damage. The invincibility will also give you the breathing space required to launch attacks of your own.
- Tip 2 – Hit Gaia’s Heart
Remember that at this stage of the fight, attacking Gaia’s heart will replenish your health. So whenever you’re running low, quickly run there and give her a few hits – just make sure Zeus doesn’t do the same, as allowing him to regenerate his health too much will lead to a long and drawn out battle.
- Tip 3 – Use Blade of Olympus
Using the Blade of Olympus will help you here, and fortunately you can build up the meter by collecting the Magic Orbs from the felled Zeus clones. If you have good timing, you can also use the Golden Fleece to counter Zeus’ lightning bolt attack.
Once you’ve done enough damage to Zeus, the rest of the combat is played out through combat prompts. Follow the sequences and you’ll be at the finish line ready to collect a mighty reward.
Did Kratos regret killing Zeus?
This is a question that didn’t really surface until God of War (2018) was released. Throughout the game, Kratos is noticeably defensive and downbeat when his slaying of Zeus is mentioned.
Kratos would have good reason for killing Zeus – he cursed his mother, stole his brother, destroyed his home city, and so on – so the remorse that Kratos shows could be seen as puzzling.
As Kratos is one of Zeus’ sons, Kratos killed his father, and looking at Atreus may stir up emotions that remind him of this. Another purported reason is that Kratos is not, in fact, remorseful at all, but instead he is overwhelmed with emotion whenever he is reminded of what he had to go through at the hands of Zeus.
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